One nurse with Nipah improves, other remains in coma; contacts test negative
Telegraph | 16 January 2026
One of the two nurses who tested positive for the Nipah virus regained consciousness on Thursday. The other remains in a coma but is responding to “painful stimulation”, state health officials said.
Both nurses are admitted at a private hospital in Barasat, North 24-Parganas, where they are employed, and had been on ventilator support since testing positive earlier this week.
“One nurse, whose condition is relatively less critical, was taken off incubation support on Thursday after showing improvement. She is conscious and responding to commands,” a health department official said.
“The other nurse is still in a coma but opens her eyes when painful stimulation is applied,” the official said.
Painful stimulation is a neurological assessment technique used when patients do not respond to verbal commands, involving controlled, strong stimuli.
However, both nurses’ conditions remain critical.
According to sources, they were administered remdesivir and ribavirin, along with other supportive medications.
The state government had confirmed on Tuesday that both nurses tested positive for the virus in confirmatory tests conducted at the National Institute of Virology, Pune.
The hospital had also sent more than 70 samples of people who had come in contact with the nurses, including 13 unprotected contacts — family members and fellow nurses who had shared rooms with them at hostels.
As of Thursday evening, results for more than 60 samples, including 40 received on Tuesday, have all tested negative. None of the contacts have shown symptoms, health
officials said.
Several of the contacts are under 21-day quarantine. “Some have tested negative but will remain isolated for 21 days,” the official said.
The conditions of a doctor and a nurse, who treated the comatose nurse at Burdwan Medical College and Hospital and later developed symptoms such as fever and cough, were stable on Thursday. Both are admitted at the Infectious Diseases and Beliaghata General Hospital.
Health department officials said the source of the nurses’ infections has not yet been identified.